strick

This machine was like my right arm for quite a while. Some say it's complicated but all you have to do is use the machine a bunch and it's not hard to figure out. It's still my go to machine for trash infested parks. You can disk out bottle caps easily. There are lots of custom programs on line that you can down load onto your machine which makes life easier. I've found so much with it including one decent sized gold nugget. It's a little on the heavy side but you get used to it. I've never ran the battery out ever in a full day of hunting. Tough and dependable for amphibious detecting. I give it 5 stars. The only way I'd ever get rid of it is when they come out with a faster CTX 4040 strick

I'm sure you have already thought of it but don't forget to include pin pointers. A very important tool ! strick

Interesting read. Makes you wonder how in the heck anyone could just let that go without telling even a one friend or family member. Maybe they died suddenly? Makes me wish I had searched my grandparents house better before my mom and uncle sold it. They were self employed ran a restaurant and were known to hide money. My uncle swears he went through everything strick

A very nice machine for the money. I bought it for my wife for gold hunting and then we got more specific gold machines so she quit using it except at the beach. It's easy to learn to use. The volume (speaker) does not have a control that I'm aware of ? So when the external speaker broke soon after purchasing it I left it that way so she would have to use her headphones and not bug me with the loud noises. I sold it a while ago since we were just not using it. Three stars for the speaker breaking so soon. strick

I bought one for my wife. She found some nice pieces of gold with it. She will occasionally dig some hot rocks with it which she does not like then she goes for the PI give it 4 stars because it's a very sensitive machine which I like but it takes a little getting used to to learn how to operate. stick

Thanks Cal...it's in a safe spot. Thanks everyone for the congrats. I thought this spot had been hunted out long before I got there. Mostly what we find there is lead. The pictures that show all the trash were from a different spot closer to home. Never give up on a spot and don't be afraid to wander away from where all the main activity was. strick

Funny you mention it....One of the 1st things I said was "it's still out here" so go get em people! ...Finding one will make you a believer for sure! Strick

Silver and gold...

And a few more pictures of our finds...

It's been well over 4 months since I have picked up a metal detector. A house remodel and some landscaping has kept me away from the treasure fields unfortunately. When my buddy Merton called and said he wanted to go on a hunt all I could think of was that I needed to get the house finished before I went goofing around with a metal detector. Reluctantly I told myself that I probably could use a break and so I invited him to come on down. Merton, being the thoughtful guy he is called a couple days before our designated date and gave me the option of cancelling but I told him to come down and lets go for a hunt! I was starting to look forward to it as we always have fun treasure hunting together. I had already decided we were going to the spot where I found the old antique gold ring this past May. I had yet to revisit this spot. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/6528-needle-in-a-haystack/ This area is on private property and has a small area of mining activity. It's not on any map. It's a tough area for the nugget hunter, the dozen or so pieces of gold that I have found here are small and few and far between. To make matters worse the area is loaded with lead from #9 bird shot to old 50 Cal plus round balls. For now I've pretty much written it off for gold hunting and would rather be a lazy relic hunter there instead. Up till now I had never found a old silver US coin there despite having made 7-8 visits to the area. A few old Chinese coins, a couple powder flasks, some gun parts and the surprise gold ring form the last hunt were enough to lure me back. As the saying goes "if you don't use it you loose it" And I had forgotten how to operate the equinox 800. The night before our hunt I broke out the owners manual that I had printed out (my wife made a nice binder for me) and brushed up on how to work the machine. I went outside and played around in the yard a bit with the detector. I'd even forgot how to noise cancel and was beginning to have doubts thinking I was wasting my time. Saturday found us in the foot hills on a bright sunny morning surrounded by herd of 75 very hungry cattle. I told Merton I was going to go on a walk about starting where I had found the gold ring and I'd catch up with him later. Merton with his XP Deus headed for whats left of some old chimneys down in a flat close to some tailing piles. I decided to keep things simple with the equinox so I put it in park 1, 5 tones, ground tracking, recovery speed 5 and Fe 1. The ground here is very noisy and it took me a while before I got back into the hang of things knowing which targets to dig and which to ignore. After about an hour of detecting I had it down and was building confidence. About two or three hours had gone by when I caught up with Merton. Neither of us had found anything really good. The place is not a very target rich environment for the relic hunter. We went back to the truck for a beer and some lunch. After lunch I told Merton that I was going to go up on the hill above the main camp and workings since neither of us had hunted it very hard before. This is where things start to get interesting. I had been gridding the hillside for about an hour or two when I came across a rare high tone. Kinda scratchy...but repeatable. A couple swings of the pick and out pops a seated silver dime in excellent condition. Immediately I call for Merton who is about a hundred yards below me and show him the coin still in the hole. I tell him to start working this area with me. Merton is a very polite detectorist and using good etiquette he heads up hill a little ways from me as to not encroach upon my new spot. Maybe another 20 minutes or so goes by and I'm about 20 yards or less from where I found the seated dime and I get a mid tone on the Equinox..14-15 and repeatable. Thinking it's just another shot gun cap or lead ball I dig a little dirt out with the pick....my Garret carrot says the target is an inch or two behind and to the right of where I originally thought it was. Using the Lesche I start digging out the area and out pops this little gold shiny thing. I could only see part of it but it had a serrated edge and I immediately knew what it was even though I had never dug one before! Gasping and jumping backwards all I could do was call out for Merton to get over here! he could tell by my excitement that It was something good....he's smiling as he walks down..... "What did you get a half dollar?" I shake my head no...."Silver dollar?" again I shake my head no....."A GOLD COIN?" all I was capable of was looking up and smiling as I was still speechless. As I went down to reach for it and Merton says "CAREFUL DON'T RUB IT!" There was a lot of congratulatory back slapping, high fives etc... then without touching the coin I said I got to go to the truck and get my phone so I can take some pictures. The coin is in excellent condition (1853 2.5 dollar) which is hard to believe since it's been in the ground for well over a hundred years. Here are the pictures so you can see what we seen. We went back the day after and then hit another spot a couple days after that. We managed another Seated and a few other trinkets. I'm back to working on my house again and Merton is out at sea. But I'm looking forward to our next hunt together. What a great hobby. strick

I was thinking the same thing. There was a metal rod that extended up...they used to call them "Hog Scrapers" which would make perfect sense....Nice Find Gerry! that would look great in any ones collection strick

Thats really cool. Merry Christmas BTW Looks to me like they made them into buttons of sorts. Congrats on an epic hunt. strick

The wife and I caught the first two stories the other night.. great flick. strick

Congrats on the two pieces of gold! Gerry and his great crew got me started as well. strick

Nice work Gerry and Lunk! Between the two of you there is no gold nugget or relic that is safe. I would have put a hole through that with my pick.. lol strick

Love that black wolf pup...congrats on the gold! Strick

"Dig and you shall receive" Rule #1 in the detectorists bible strick

Thanks for the great story Steve... you had me for a second there with that big copper nugget. Man that would have been a killer gold nugget. strick

That is a nugget shield... lol some day I hope to need one!

Nice Norm Looks like the CTX is treating you well. Nice work sniffing out that old silver. Lisa and I were at Bucks lake with our Kayaks earlier this week. strick

7000 does the same thing over here in the Sierras on big roots. After a while you get the feel of it. Especially after you have spent 30 minutes digging everything out from under a couple of them... strick

Great Story...I think you still need to write that book.. Digital stuff seems to get lost over time. The book will always be there. strick

Great story Steve. Those fish packing plants were a great place to meet girls. Is that were dad met mom? When I used to fish on a gill netter for sockeye during the summers there where college girls all over the packing plants lol My dad also was a pilot and I think his favorite plane to fly was the super cub. Looking forward to more...seems to be gold everywhere! strick

That is one amazing ring...Heart stopper for sure. Congrats to the detectorist.. strick

I ordered one. Looking forward to learning a thing or two. strick